Another Path
by Number 1111
Summary: Berserker is losing against the Red knight. Is this good? Think again.  Once the established road has been abandoned nothing will ever be the same. That is not good, that is not bad.  That is simply Another Path.
1. Archer vs Berserker

Well, hello and thank you for reading this.

I'm the number 1111 and this is my little try at writting fanfiction. I posted it in the BL and TTF forum under the title "Archer vs Berserker", but since the thing is starting to grown I felt necessary the tittle change.

This is placed in a sligth different Fate route, and Archer will be the main character.

Enjoy!

* * *

The castle was flooded with the noise of the battle.

The sound of swords clashing. Stone and steel creamed in each encounter.

In the middle of the hall the two Servants were fighting with all of their power.

One, because he knew he couldn't survive even a second if he held back. The other, because it was the only thing he could do.

But the result of the battle was clear from the start, even to a person with little battle experience like Berserker's Master.

If it was Saber at full health she could slow down her servant enough time to the others to escape the forest, even survive with a bit of luck, but for that unknown bowman, to try to stand before the most powerful hero of all the times, was a death sentence.

He couldn't block, he couldn't parry and all his attack served for nothing. His throwing swords didn't even graze her Servant skin.

But… she couldn't help being a little nervous.

It wasn't because she feared Archer's Noble Phantasm, those swords that kept appearing in his hands each time that he threw them or when they broke against the stone axe-sword of her servant. After all a useless sword was useless even if you had a lot of them.

It was that smile.

He didn't stop smiling after asking to his master if she minded if he killed Berserker.

It didn't matter how much Berserker overpowered him, how many of his attacks did nothing or how many times his weapons broke against the god-like strength of the attacks his opponent made.

That smile never faded.

The mocking smile of someone that knows something.

It unnerved Ilya.

But she knew how to resolve that.

"_Kill him now, Berserker!"_

And the mad warrior roared in agreement.

Dismissing all his defensive instincts, her servant put all his might and what was left of his mind in that swing. It would be suicide in a battle of servants leaving such an opening, but, against her servant, which had lives to spare, dying meant nothing.

But Archer didn't try to use the opening nor he tried to dodge.

He blocked.

He crossed his swords in front of Berserker weapon and tried to block the attack.

Swords clashed and cracks appeared in both short swords.

He was going to die, Ilya was sure of it.

The sword continued to break and Berserker roared again, putting even more strength, if it was possible, behind his sword.

"…"

The Archer said something, but she could not hear him over her Servant mad cry.

And just in that moment, when his swords started to shatter, light covered his swords, flowing out from the cracks.

Archer was sent to the other extreme of the hall, flying by the sheer force of Berserker attack.

Alive.

Wounded but alive.

_Impossible_, she thought, _his swords were…_

Cracked but whole.

Metal shards of the same color of the blades were coming out of where the cracks were and they seemed a bit larger.

And his smile became even more broad.

"_I was trying to reserve my strength to kill someone else but everything that you have done, Ilya, has put me in quite a situation" _Archer said in a mocking tone._"I hope that you won't hold anything against me after I kill your servant."_

He was mocking her. He was sub estimating her Servant.

A no-name hero was mocking her Servant and her!

"_Destroy him, Berserker"_ She said as the command spell in her body flared to live with her orders. "_Reduce him to a smear on the floor!"_

There aren't words to describe the sound that was coming out from Berserker throat as a red light surrounded him and the power of the command spell flowed into him. Making him faster and stronger. Deadlier.

He charged against the red Servant. In his mind there was only his order. And nothing could stop him.

In the other side of the hall the smile in Archer face faded, being substituted by a lot of concentration.

In less than five seconds Berserker would reach him. If that happened he would die, he was sure.

But five seconds were enough.

His hands were empty, the twin swords banished like they never existed.

"_Steel is my body and fire is my blood"_

A bow in his left hand, an "arrow" on his right.

An arrow that isn't a arrow but a sword.

A Noble Phantasm filled to the brim with prana. Pushing against the limits of its capacity. Breaking them.

A Broken Phantasm.

Three seconds left. The stone giant still charged with his maddening roar.

Two seconds.

"_Caladbolg!"_

He fired.

The attack only graced Berserker's shoulder, cutting through his skin like butter and went past him, still following a straight line.

One second.

He smiled again staring at the servant in front of him.

A scream interrupted the mortal countdown.

His shots never missed. The spiral broken sword continued his path to the only weak point of that avatar of destruction called Berserker.

Illyasviel, his master.

She froze and only could scream at the sight of the arrow going straight to her.

No running would help her. The explosion that the Phantasm would cause should kill her along with past of the castle.

So she screamed and waited for death.

But it didn't come to her, and he opened her eyes.

Her servant had saved her.

Hearing his master's scream through his madness he fought the absolute order of the command spell and by simply instinct bended its power to turn around and be able to intercept the weapon.

But his sword didn't resist the piercing strength of the arrow, which made a hole through it. Nor the skin blessed by the gods block it.

So he stopped the arrow with his chest.

Both Archer and Ilya were speechless

Berserker roared in pain, but this didn't stop him. Before the overstored prana could make its effect and the Broken Phantasm exploded he dropped his sword and reached for it.

He grabbed the handle and pulled it out causing blood to spurt out of the wound.

And threw it back to a stunned Archer.

If not for his Mind's Eye ability his head would have been destroyed. He moved quickly enough to only get a scratch in his cheek. A very deep scratch.

The sword passed through one of the demolished walls, and an instant after that a explosion shook the forest.

It was fortunately that Rin and his group went in the opposite direction.

"_You killed Berserker once"_

Surprise filled Ilya's statement.

It was impossible, Archer was too weak to do it. Even if Berserker took that arrow meant for her he should be fine, as his skin was impenetrable to anything but the most powerful attacks.

But yet it happened.

"_Who are you?"_ she asked in stupor.

"_Surprised that a simple bowman was able to kill your Berserker?" _ He replied smiling at her. _"You shouldn't be, I warned you from the start."_

"_And what of it?"_

Berserker roared as all his wound closed like they never happened.

"_Killing him once means nothing! Again and again he will stand up! My Berserker is the strongest hero. If you kill him you only will make him stronger!"_

As if for affirming this the servant took his stone axe-sword in his hand and smashed it against the ground while roaring in madness induced rage.

"_Oh, really?"_ He asked as his bow disappeared and the twin sword rematerialized again on his hands. _"So killing him once doesn't work… How about, I don't know…, __**twelve**__ times?"_

_He knows._ Ilya thought. _Somehow he knows._

_But what if he knows?_

The Hand of God granted protection against the means used to kill Berserker. His arrow would be as useless as his swords.

So, what if he knew?

"_I don't know. Why don't you try?"_

Taking this as a signal Berserker charged again.

With renewed strength he attacked. Shattering Archer's swords again and again. Even if he couldn't dealt a full blow, numerous deep wound started to appear each time that his weapon grazed Archer's body.

And, because of that, Archer wasn't smiling anymore.

Retracing Kansho and Bakuya at the rate they were being destroyed was something that required concentration and he could spare it to taunt his enemies.

Another part of his mind was reviewing his swords, one at one. In that moment he realized one miscalculation in his plan.

For someone with unlimited swords he had so fucking few A ranked ones. Or even B+, they would be enough if he Broke them.

_In times like these the one rank reduction really sucks._

But all of this distracted him a bit, not letting him time to think about all the ramification of each one of Berserker movements. So when he dodged the stone axe-sword he never thought that it would stop mid-movement and hit him with the flat side. Even if it was not the cutting side it was enough to destroy his weapons and to send him flying.

Again.

But this time he took the hit in the chest, his armor was smashed on an instant. Only a quick reinforcement of his ribs saved him of dying.

But it hurt. The hit of the sword and the hit against the wall hurt a lot. He could block out the pain, but concentrating into his inner world and bringing out his prized swords was out of the equation for a few second. But it was too much time.

"_Kill him before he recovers!" _He heard Ilya screaming.

He tried to assume a battle stance and tracing his twin swords to survive to the incoming attack, but, as he had thought before, the pain didn't let him visualize them well enough to trace.

_Well, at least Rin should have had enough time to escape already._

And if not, he knew that, even if he died, his younger self would protect her with his life. In times like this he was nearly happy for that saving people thing that his younger self still had.

So he could die proud of fulfilling his orders and of killing Berserker once.

_Well, this is the end_. He thought while pulling himself straight and looking at his executor.

Then he saw it.

A sword within his vision range.

And he gambled everything in a desperate move.

His enemy swung down his sword.

A powerful hit, this time with the edge of the weapon, was coming to take his head!

He swung his empty hands in that same direction!

"_I have created over a thousand blades!"_

The cries of stone against stone deafened even the roar of the mad warrior for a moment.

"_WHAT!" _Screamed Ilya in surprise, even if no one heard her.

The axe-sword of her Servant, roughly carved from a stone pillar of a temple dedicated to Heracles for her family in order to provide both, a catalyst and a weapon, was stopped.

By that same sword.

The red clad Servant countered the finishing blow with the same weapon that was going to kill him and used the momentum of the hit to distance himself from Berserker.

But he didn't stop there.

He charged against Berserker.

Flooding his arms with prana, he reinforced every cell, fiber and every bone in them. Faking the strength of his divine opponent.

Fake strength, forged combat experience and an imitated sword.

But they were enough for a faker like him.

A feral battle cry escaped from Archer's mouth as he closes the distance between them.

And their swords met.

Fake or real, no one yielded against the other.

And so they met again and again.

Mirrored attacks countered each other every time that they swung their weapons.

No one stepped back, for they were fighting as one.

Sadly for one of them, the tip of his sword was breaking.

Their swords met again in a descending arc from above their heads, and stone shard filled the air between them.

The sword in Berserker hand shattered, losing a good part of his tip.

That wasn't in Archer's plan.

In the process of tracing the stone axe-sword he forgot to add a detail, and because of that the real thing was destroyed instead of his.

The hole made by Caladbolg

And so his sword, only meant to block this time, connected.

As Archer saw the now shorter weapon nearly touching his nose, the tip of his reached Berserker chest.

And in continued his way down, shredding his flesh in a vertical wound not deep enough to be fatal.

Everyone in the hall stopped for a moment in surprise. Even the mad warrior.

Berserker, because his attack failed and he was wounded instead.

Archer and Ilya, because they thought impossible for the stone sword to cut Berserker's skin.

Archer was the first to act.

He swung the oversized weapon horizontally and quickly, before Berserker could react.

But he forgot that he wasn't the only Servant with the Mind's Eye ability, even if his opponent's was a fake.

Berserker instinct screamed him to leap backward and he did it at amazing speed, even if he didn't know why. And thus, he evaded losing another life.

Like Archer predicted.

The bowman smiled at the sight of Berserker back leap, and closed one of his eyed concentrating half of his mind in the stone slab in his hand.

Carved from a pillar of a temple built in Heracles' honor right after his death it was as ancient as his myth, and, somehow, after being used to summon the Servant and as a weapon by said hero it became like an A rank Noble Phantasm.

That was the only explanation he could reach after searching in its history, even if it wasn't a solid one.

Not that it mattered to him.

It could damage Berserker and so he would use it.

Berserker touched the ground after leaping and roared. His wound closed and he prepared himself to charge again.

Before this Archer concentrated even more in the "sword" in his hand. He searched into its connection with the Heroic Spirit before him.

Into its connection to the legend.

Into its connection with the summon.

Into its connection to this war.

And he found it.

His ticket to the victory.

In not even the time that took Berserker to leap and charge again. A plan formed in his mind.

Another nine blueprints were in his head, waiting to him to use them.

Berserker roared even louder and attacked him with his broken weapon.

"_Unknown to death.  
Nor known to life._"

Not even the instincts of the mad warrior would help him against the speed of the gods!

"_Nine Lives Blade Works!"_

He targeted the upper arm, collarbone, windpipe, temple, diaphragm, ribs, testicles, and thighs.

The gore that followed froze Ilya's blood. Berserker was dying.

One death.

Another.

And other, and other, and other…

But it didn't stop the Greek hero.

Seven hits connected before he could do anything. His body was being torn to pieces, but even then he still moved in order to kill his master's enemy.

To kill him before he killed her.

Loyalty powerful enough to overcome the madness, even if only by an instant.

The attacks that were piercing his body were launched at the speed of the gods.

That was originally his attack speed!

The last two attacks met with their mirrors.

The sound of stone breaking and Archer's scream of pain were the only sounds in the hall.

The two last projected swords and the original one were reduced to dust by the force of the impacts.

It was obvious to Ilya, the battle had ended.

Berserker stood immobile before the cloud of dust, nearly half of his body gone but already regenerating it.

He lost eight lives in total against that strange bowman that fought with swords.

A hero that even had a sword identical to the one of her Servant.

But now Archer was dead. Defeated by her Servant.

It was the end.

No.

A loud laugh came from the middle of the dust.

"_Have withstood pain to create many weapons."_

Archer came out of the cloud of dust, covered in wounds from the explosion of the swords and without his left arm.

But the left arm didn't matter to him right now.

After all it was the right one which held the ninth weapon he prepared in advance.

Eight were reproductions of the stone axe-sword, necessary with his already projected one for his previous attack.

This one wasn't even a sword.

It was a lance.

"_Gae Bolg!"_

_Lancer's Noble Phantasm. _Ilya realized in that instant, but, while confused why this Archer had it, she wasn't worried.

They had fought already with that Servant, who retreated after his sure kill attack clashed harmlessly against Berserker divine skin.

It was useless.

But Archer knew it. That he couldn't hope to pierce Berserker's skin with it.

Even then he started smiling again.

Because of it he prepared this weapon to use it after his previous attack. Before it would be useless.

The curse lance started to take effect.

But right now there were holes in that impervious skin.

And Berserker heart was destroyed by the curse of the lance.

Three lives left.

The mad warrior didn't like it.

He was summoned to be a unstoppable tank, killing his enemies even if he died in the process.

Not even after losing the ninth live he stopped.

So he roared, and still with the lance in his body, he caught Archer's only arm and tossed him like a rag doll toward one of the walls.

Then, while regenerating and pulling out the weapon, he ran towards Archer.

And he punched him. Again and again he punched him with the power of a canon.

Then he caught him for the head and started to press.

"_Stop Berserker!"_ Ordered Ilya's voice. _"He deserve an even move painful death for killing you so many times!"_

At this order the Servant stopped to press, but he didn't release Archer.

"_That… wasn't a… very clever thing to do… Ilya"_ Said the bowman with a faltering voice.

"_Yeah? And what are you to do? Dying on my Berserker?"_

A chuckle seemed to come from the imprisoned Servant.

"_No, thank you… I have… other plans…" _

Before even Ilya could thought what that meant, he chanted again.

"_Yet, those hands will never hold anything."_

Pink light started coming out of his hand.

"_Rho Aias!"_

Seven petals of light came out forming a barrier, pushing Berserker and forcing him to release Archer. Preventing him to reach him while that shield was still in place.

"_Another Noble Phantasm?" _Ilya asked in surprise.

Berserker started to pound the barrier with his bare fists with no results except burning his hands, but he didn't stop.

Inside the shield Archer smiled again, even through his body was full of wounds and an arm was missing.

"_So as I pray."_

_How many legendary weapons he had?_ Ilya asked in her thoughts.

And he said it, like an answer to that not asked question.

"_Unlimited Blade Works" _

And the world was burned away.

When the fire banished there were no traces of the castle or the forest.

There were only swords. Stuck in the earth like they were strange tombstones.

Tens, hundreds, thousands, and millions of them.

In the sky strange cogwheels moved constantly like part of a gigantic clock.

A hundred meters away from her and her servant was Archer, still smiling

"_Like what you see, Ilya? These are the world's finest blades, from a simply kitchen knife to the most powerful holy blades. Each one is sharpened to the extreme and ready to be used by me. _

_Do you still think that I was bluffing when I said that I would kill Berserker?"_

She didn't know what to think, one moment she had Archer at her Servant mercy and the next one she was in this strange world.

A world created by that Servant.

A Reality Marble.

The most forbidden form of mage craft, used by a Servant Archer.

A world filled with swords.

Nothing made sense.

But she didn't care.

"And what of it! Even if you have so many weapons you only have one hand! What can you do!"

Archer didn't reply, he only continued smiling.

A thought was enough.

They started to rain over her, Noble Phantasms.

An absurd quantity of them.

Only the quick reaction from his Servant, covering her with his body, saved her.

Then, as abruptly as it started, the rain finished.

"_This is my world, why should I need to use my hands when the reality is my ally?" _

And, as if hearing him, the swords started to dislodge themselves from their resting places and floated up while others materialized in the sky.

And they shoot themselves towards them from all angles.

And while Berserker was occupied protecting his master from them he called forth a very nostalgic sword.

Caliburn, the golden sword of assured victory.

Perhaps he could not use it like he did with his Saber, back when he was alive, and kill Berserk multiple times with it.

But it was A ranked.

Enough to bypass the God's Hand.

The beautiful sword appeared in his hand.

And he released it.

Instead of falling to the ground it moved forward at an amazing speed.

Berserker, as busy as he was didn't pay it any attention until it was piercing his stomach.

And then he could do nothing.

Two lives left.

"_Berserker!"_ Ilya screamed worriedly.

Ten lives were gone.

And Archer didn't have any intention to stop.

She believed him now.

He could kill Berserker.

And he was doing it.

"_Vajra!" _

She heard a shout at her Servant side.

Archer was there. In his hand was a curiously shaped weapon.

But his magical presence was so weak that they didn't saw it until it was too late.

Taishakuten's weapon entered his body through the hole made by Caliburn a few seconds before.

The weapon did it's effect and dealt damage independently from his Archer's magical energy.

And Berserker's body exploded in lightning from the inside.

His skin burned, unable to protect itself from a damage dealt from inside.

And the swords that rained from the sky started to pierce the charred body.

Until nothing could be seen of her servant.

She fell to her knees.

And started cry.

Her Berserker couldn't have died. He was her protector, someone that never would leave her alone.

She was alone again.

The sound of steps.

She looked up to see Archer in front of her.

Wounded, with only an arm and nearly exhausted, but with a sword in his only hand.

And Ilya screamed of fear for death.

But, then, a roar seemed stop Archer in mid movement, and Ilya opened her eyes wide.

Berserker still wasn't dead.

He was one of humanity greatest heroes, he participated in countless battles, killed so many enemies and refined his skills, reflects and instincts to his maximum capability.

All in order to achieve victory.

So, even after being reduced to a mindless beast, killed eleven times and being pierced by a lot of swords, he still refused to lose.

He stood up again and shook most of the swords out of his body.

And tried to charge against Archer again.

But the last of the swords that waited in the sky fell down towards him, With enough strength to make him unable to move.

And while this happened Archer traced let his sword banish and started to run with grabbing a screaming Ilya with his remaining hand.

In front of him his world was starting to dissolve, and The World was restituting its order.

Like a hole in the middle of his field of blades.

His only possibility of killing Berserker last time, was now.

He pulled more prana from his connection to Rin, enough to make his world once again.

But he wouldn't do that.

He overcharged his already projected world.

His Noble Phantasm.

His circuit suffered from the strain and like when he was a novice, swords started to come out from his deeper wounds. But he ignored it like he ignored the angry Ilya calling for Berserker.

The cogwheels of his world started to speed up with the extra energy he was using.

And in the sky and in the ground cracks started to appear.

He ran, ignoring all of this, towards the "hole". He needed to reach it before the magic he was infusing into his world closed it.

Behind him the swords stopped to rain and Berserker started to pursue him.

The cowheels started to give sparks off for going to quick, and the cracks in the ground and the sky met in the horizon.

His world was being broken.

He reached the "hole" just in time before it was too little for him, but he didn't stop even when he passed it and continued running.

He broke his own world. His only own Noble Phantasm.

He used for first time the Broken Phantasm called Unlimited Blade Works.

A Broken Phantasm composed of unlimited Broken Phantasms.

He didn't want to see what happened.

He imagined it.

He was reaching the forest when a loud and unnatural shattering sound came from the castle.

He embraced the struggling Ilya.

And the night became midday when everything was bathed by the flames and the shrapnel of a dying world.


	2. Changes in the War

Second chapter is here.

Sorry for any errors in grammar, after this chapter I'll get a beta.

Now, enjoy the story.

* * *

When the fire stopped roaring and the steel fragments ceased to rain only two figures could be seen near blackened crater that only a few second earlier was the Einzberg castle.

The taller of them released the little from his one armed protective embrace and stood up from his kneeling position. There was no trace from the red mantle that he once wore, and the back of his armor was full of small holes made by the shrapnel of the explosion, if his previous condition was bad now it was even worse.

But he smiled nonetheless as he turned around. No Hércules in sight, there was no way the mad Servant survived that with no lives in his stock. And he chuckled a little at that. He did it after all.

"I killed Berserker" he murmured in something between surprise and satisfaction.

Then, he promptly collapsed on the ground, all his forces spent.

* * *

Ilya was too shocked to react as Archer released her. She was too confused to do anything but see the damaged back of the Servant as he turned around.

Why was she alive? Why he didn't kill her?

It would have been easy for him to murder her in that strange world where he could make swords rain and appear at will, so easy to leave her at the mercy of that powerful explosion or to simply use a bit more of strength when embracing her and crushing her bones.

The rules of the war were clear, kill the Servants, kill the masters and claim the Grail. For that she was prepared and sent here. She wouldn't have any mercy with Archer's master if the situations were inverted, and she was sure that Tohsaka didn't want her alive after trying to kill her, so an order from his master wasn't the motive.

That was confusing her. He was so confusing. Nothing about the Archer made sense. First of all, since when and archer used swords and sorcery.

"I killed Berserker" she faintly heard him saying.

She didn't need him saying that, she knew that better than anyone. That her loyal companion wasn't with her anymore. But she couldn't blame the bowman, after all he warned her, she was the one that was so sure of her servant superiority that made light of Archer even after he killer Berserker many times. She failed to her Servant.

And she was alone again, only alive because of an enemy's whim.

She cried tears of impotence until she too passed out, not noticing the unconscious Archer until she fell on him.

* * *

Now that they couldn't feel him the Servant of the lance went out of his hiding place behind some charred trees, lance in hand. He had been observing the battle from the start, as ordered by his master.

Fortunately for him, he decided to leave when Archer made that strange boundary field since he could not see the inside, and selected a good hiding spot in the forest to take a short nap until the barrier disappeared. Then the shattering sound came, and after that, the fire and the shrapnel. He thanked every gods he knew for being outside the explosion radius.

Silently, he approached them and raised the weapon in the air…

Only to bury its tip on the ground, shifting most of his weight over the weapon and using it as an oversized cane. His expression relaxed and a smile appeared on his face.

"That was an amazing battle, you know? - he chuckled-. If you fought like that when we meet I would had gotten a better impression of you. I am even forgiving you for using my Gae Bolg."

Lancer wasn't like most Servants. He was probably the only one that held no interest in winning the Holy Grail. His interest in this "war" was the war itself. He only desired for battles that would push him to the limits, fights to death with enemies even stronger that himself, the feeling of excitement that only a clash between heroes would grant him.

And even if at first he only thought of Archer as a weak Servant that only barely could stop his attack with his ever reappearing swords, now that changed. One that could fight like that against that monstrous Berserker and win even after losing an arm deserved his respect. Weren't those five different Noble Phantasms? One of them his own Gae Bolg? Didn't he manage to exchange blow against that giant without even stepping back? And that explosion...

Just what the fuck was that explosion?

"Hahahaha, I like your style, Archer. Fight an epic combat against a resurrecting opponent and winning even when all the odds were against you. That was how a true battle between heroes must be!"

Fuck, he even got a girl out of it! That was another point in favour of the bowman. Maybe Berserker's former master was a bit too small for Lancer but, hey, every one has his preferences.

It was a shame letting someone like that dying of exhaustion after winning. Wasn't the first rule of war that the winner survives and takes all?

Being magical exhausted is a really pain if you are a Servant. The Word being bitchy about erasing you and all of that.

"My master sent me here to kill the survivor, he is cowardly like that, you know? It isn't like he used a command spell..."

He retired the lance from the blackened earth.

"So fuck him"

With expertly slashes he traced a few symbols, runes, around the unconscious bowman and the sleeping girl. Immediately they flared in red light and Lancer nodded in satisfaction as the runes did their work and pulled just enough ambient magic inside the other Servant to prevent the World from doing what Berserker could not.

He waited a few second until the runes faded away.

"The only death a hero deserves is in one on the battlefield." The spearman commented while retreating to the unburned forest." Take this as a gift in exchange for the free show. I'll take my way out before your friends come here. See you."

Lancer disappeared in the sea of trees while hoping that this development would give an ulcer to his master.

* * *

"I see that you managed to stay alive, Archer"

"Of course Rin. I'm your Servant, I don't die so easily."

"You lost your left arm."

"An acceptable loss, taking the circumstances into account."

"One last question"

"Ask what you want to know, master."

"Why is Illyasviel sleeping over your chest?"

The Servant stayed silent.

"Well?"

Still in the ground and with closed eyes, the bowman sighed.

"I have no response to that…?"

"ARCHER!"

He knew Rin's reactions to his actual company since the moment he recovered conscience, and resigned himself to the tirade that would follow about how dangerous Ilya was. He ignored most of his master's angry ramblings without much attention.

"… and that's not even mentioning what she would have done to Shirou if not for us. And better not talk about Berserker, taking her hostage is like waiting for Berserker to come at us in any moment, and even with Saber in good health fighting him will be…"

"Berserker is dead; I doubt he will be a problem." He couldn't prevent himself from interrupting her with some pride in his words.

"… stupid because… Wait. What?"

His master's words stopped abruptly and even with his eyes closed he knew that everyone attention was in him.

"What did you meant by that, Archer?" asked with command Saber's voice from his right.

He opened his eyes tiredly. The whole group was in around him. His younger self was at his left side, giving him a confused stare, at his right Saber was still watching their surroundings waiting for any indication of an attack. In front of him his master seemed frozen in mid sentence, without even being able to close her mouth.

"What I meant, Saber, is that I killed him."

Even the King of Knights gasped at this.

"Then that explosion we heard…?"

The bowman chuckled

"I'm not going to give you or your master any sensitive information without discussing it before with my master, in private. Ours is a weak alliance right now, Saber, with Berserker's death."

A few seconds passed in silence at this response until his master broke it.

"I… I see. Well done my Servant. We… will talk about this when all of us are out of this forest."

It was a lie and Archer could see it. His master didn't see anything; she just couldn't understand what could happen for her servant to win against that monster that no even Saber could defeat. But he didn't mind, he was having trouble believing and he was the one who did it.

"But if you won, then it's even stranger for Ilya to be here with you. I mean, aren't you and Tohsaka supporters of killing the defeated masters?" Great. His younger self had to remind everyone the cause of the previous outburst. Fortunately, or not, for him, the question was answered before his master reenacted her previously interrupted mad discourse.

"That is easy Onii-chan. I'm here because what Archer did without asking for my permission, so he now has to take the responsibility of doing it to me." Replied Ilya, with a sleepy voice from top of his chest.

Shirou and Rin fell into silence again and just stared at him and to Ilya, who stll was over him, alternately, in shock. The hand that Saber use to hold her sword started to twitch as she started murmuring about honor codes, despicable acts and death penalty by beheading.

"Ilyasviel, before anyone kills me over a misunderstanding, could you care to explain us what did you mean before by "it"?"

"Saving me from the explosion, of course. What would be I referring to?"

Saber's hand stopped and Shirou sighed with relief. But the answer didn't seem to please his master very much.

"Archer, I thought that we had an agreement in what you would do with a servantless master…"

"Tohsaka" Shirou interrupted in his favor."Don't be so hard on Archer. If he really killed Berserker Ilya isn't a danger anymore. You can't be asking him to kill, or to left to die, an unarmed child! I don't like him, but he did the right thing here."

"Saber! Say something to your master, he seems not have learned his lesson after being kidnapped and nearly killed by that child."

The Servant of the sword looked at her with a resigned face.

"Rin. We both know that nothing could be said that will convince Shirou. If I went against him in this he would use a command seal, which would be a useless waste, so I prefer to reserve my thoughts to myself."

"Yes, Rin. If I wanted revenge I could have killed your Servant before without much problem. But I am a good loser so I didn't do anything. And is of bad education to kill the people that helped you"

Not having anyone in his side Rin surrendered.

"Fine, FINE! But Emiya, you will take care of her. Don't come to me crying when she tries to kill you. Again." Then she stared at her Servant." And you and I, Archer, will be having a very long conversation when get back. Is that clear?"

"Yes master/Rin" the responded at unison with a firm tone.

"And you Illyasviel. Get down from my Servant!"

"Don't wanna. I'm trying to sleep and he is very comfortable" She replied without moving.

"Archer! Do something about her!"

"I'm not on the ground for a personal liking to it. If you haven't noticed, master, my levels of prana are too low to move. I would have done something about her, as you say it, if it didn't mean to pull more energy from our connection, which, since I did it before, would leave you too weak to move, as I am now." He explained. "I prefer to remain this way, in order to let you be able to run away in case of the attack of one of the remaining Servants, until we reach a safe location."

There was nothing that his master could say against what he just said. It was the truth after all. Rin only turned her head, visibly angry, and started to walk away, talking about idiotic allies and Servants.

"Don't worry Archer" His younger self assured him."I'm sure she won't be still mad at us when we get out of this place"

"Most probably, knowing Rin. She doesn't like having her authority questioned, but I don't think that she really wanted me to kill an unarmed Ilya." He agreed. Being hostile to Emiya Shirou in his current state would achieve nothing.

His younger self… smiled at him?

"I'll take Ilya while Saber carries you, Archer." Shirou took the again sleeping Ilya from his chest and waited to Saber to pick Archer up. "If I'm sincere I didn't like you before, you are a jerk. But that you stayed fighting to let us escape, and then went against your own recommendations of killing enemies and saved Ilya from that explosion when you didn't have to, has made me respect you a lot more. Maybe you aren't so much of a jerk in the end."

"Who knows?" He said tiredly from Saber's as they were starting to leave."I shouldn't have done that, maybe. But I couldn't help myself." He chuckled a bit while closing his eyes. "Old habits and old regrets die hard, and I was a fool who loved saving people in the past, too."

"Really?" Shirou stared at him with disbelief. "What made you change, then?"

Archer didn't open his eyes again or replied him, so Shirou didn't say anything again, letting him rest.

In the dark of his mind, Archer asked himself the same question.

* * *

Matou Shinji was an arrogant and a coward.

So when, the day before, he saw his servant and Emiya's Saber running up the wall of the building from where he was observing everything, the two halves fought inside him. The cowardly side won, and before they reached the top he was going down in the elevator. After the elevator reached the hall he ran, only stopping to scream as the book in his hand stated to burn. After that he ran faster.

Matou Shinji only survived that night for being a coward, even if he didn't know that.

But now this where looking better for him. Oh, how better they were.

He passed the night trembling in fear in a dark alley of the city, awake and fearing that every sound was a Servant going to kill him. When the day came, and he was sure that there was enough people in the streets that no magus could attack, him he started running again toward the place was said to protect any defeated master which desired to retire from the war.

He reached the church his grandfather mentioned seeking sanctuary. Then he didn't know how fortunate he was.

He, scared, begged for asylum to the priest, cursing the weakness of his Rider, then IT happened. The priest talked.

A new Servant, the strongest Servant of the last war was offered to him with the promise of a second chance, a new chance to win and crush his enemies. There wasn't anything to think about, he accepted.

The priest smiled and called for his new Servant, "Archer". A blonde foreigner dressed in black and white appeared from the interior of the chapel at the calling, walking to them at a leisurely pace.

Behind him, an army of blades. The air waved around them like wild water, at every step of man new weapons appeared causing new ripples on it.

Shinji wasn't stupid or ignorant, those were not his faults. He knew well the power that the weapons of a Heroic Spirit could contain, as they were the symbol of their strength. And because of that Shinji lost his breath when he realized that he simply couldn't count how many of them were floating before him.

The "man" stopped in front of him and smiled with superiority.

"Is this my new Master, Kotomine?"

"He indeed is, King of Heroes. Matou Shinji has accepted you as his Servant in order to continue in the War."

"I see"

Without any indication several blades flew past him at an amazing speed. One of them even graced Shinji's ear.

"I am Archer, "master"."

Somehow the word master coming from his mouth sounded mocking and depreciating. Like an insult or a joke.

"Annoy me, and I will kill you."

The killer intent that accompanied his words was so dense that Shinji could taste it. In that moment Shinji realized that he had nothing to protect himself from his new servant, there was no command spell that could prevent him from a horrible death caused by the powerful being before him.

"Please me, and I will lend my power to your purposes."

And the killing intent disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. The Servant gracefully waved his right arm, gently indicating Shinji to look behind himself.

The rows of seats at his back were now nothing but splints, and of the wall past them was simply gone, showing the outside. There, a few swords were embedded in several craters on the ground.

In that moment Shinji took a mental note to do everything in his hands to be on his Servant good side. He steeled what little resolve he had to prevent the fear from muting him and talked.

"I will be very pleased of having you as my Servant, Archer."

Matou Shinji returned this way to the Holy Grail War.

With the most powerful hero at his side he felt that he had nothing to fear while he kept his Archer in a good mood.

In the background, Kotomine Kirei just smiled.

* * *

Please coment, and sorry for anyone who saw the bad formating, the page doesn't seem to like my breaklines.


	3. Decisions

Hello people and happy Christmas!

I was waiting to get a beta to help me with both grammar and story before uploading anything more. Since, sadly, since it couldn't be, I'm publishing the chapter raw, with the grammatical and structural errors, sorry for that, I'll try to reupload this chapter again when someone point me the errors. I promise that I tried to get a beta, but no one of the betas who I asked for help, a moth ago, answered me.

So, if anyone would be interested in helping me with this story, please send me a private message. It wouldn't take much time and the only requirements are having read the visual novel, knowing more English than me and being as critic as possible with my work.

Said that, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

When the new array of symbols around Archer's summoning circle was complete and Rin placed the three jewels over one of the marks, she ordered him to step in. When he was in the center she whispered some words and the symbols started to emit a faintly blue light.

"This spell will use the energy stored in the stones to restore your prana. I hate to use three of my most powerful ones for this, but this way you will recover overnight instead of needing to rest several days." After saying that, she sat in a wooden chair that she had prepared earlier and stared directly at Archer with a serious face. "Shirou, Saber and Illyasviel are in the Emiya residence, if anyone tries to eavesdrop the barrier of the house would alert us. We are alone like you requested. Now talk, Servant"

Archer sat cross-legged in the floor and stared back at her.

"Before I start talking I want to know if you will continue your alliance with Saber's master even now that Berserker is dead"  
Rin gave a sigh at that.

"I don't know what do you have against Shirou, but, now that my Servant lost an arm, having Saber as an ally would be the safest option. The Caster on the Ryuudou Temple is likely going to start trying to move now that Berserker is out of the scene, and the masters of Caster and Lancer are still unknown. And, if that weren't enough, attacking Caster is near impossible, as the Ryuudou Temple is protected with a barrier which entrance is protected by the Servant Assassin that caster managed to summon. So, yes, I'm planning to still be Shirou's ally."

Archer steel eyes looked intently at his master.

"And what about winning the War, Rin?"

The question seemed to disorient her. Her Servant rose up and stared at her from all his stature.

"If we manage to win with them, what happens to the Grail? I know that you are sure that Emiya doesn't want it, but Saber will not let you to get the Grail after she sought for it so much time. What would you do, then? Order me to fight Saber in a duel? Without my arm she would probably kill me in seconds. Backstab them? You wouldn't be able to do that, and you know it. You are even calling him Shirou instead of Emiya right now."

His master stayed silent after this, everything that the bowman said was nothing but the truth. It was mortifying. She couldn't betray Shirou at this point; her own conscience wouldn't let her. But Archer was right; if they stayed allies she wouldn't be able to get the Holy Grail, and she knew it. And the worst thing was that when she nearly sacrificed her Servant to rescue Shirou from Einzberg it was like saying that she didn't care about the grail anymore. And her Archer didn't seem to like it.

Normal, she thought. After all, the Servants only fight in the Grail War because they want to get their desires too. It wouldn't be rare for any Servant in his position to betray his master.

She gritted her teeth. Having loyalty issues with her servant right now would be very bad. Even worse than it could be, as she only had one last command spell.

Archer sighed loudly, distracting her.

"That said, Rin. You are my master and I'm your Servant, is your election the one which matters in the end." He sat again and relaxed, looking resigned, while putting his remaining hand over the scar that was once his shoulder. "In my current state it's nearly impossible for me to attain my wish, so I will accept your orders, whatever they are. I only want you to realize that you won't get the Grail if you are allied with Emiya."

That crushed all her current thought process and nearly made her fall off from the chair.

"Hey, wait! Weren't you going to protest about not getting your desire? You can't say things that sound like you are going to betray me and then tell me that you will accept my orders even if you don't like them!"

The Servant smiled at the sudden outburst.

"I never said anything about betraying you, Rin. Even if this time I can't attain my wish, it doesn't matter to me, as a soul trapped in the throne of heroes I will have more opportunities. I won't betray my master for that. "

"Then, will you respect the alliance with Saber's master?"

"Yes, as much as I dislike him, he is trustworthy and Saber is probably one of the strongest Servants summoned. I'll leave personal vendettas for the next time, having him as an ally would be very favorable for you to survive in this war, and that is only my concern."

"Then, why you questioned me about continuing the alliance or winning the war?"

Archer smirked with an expression that seemed to say "Isn't it obvious?"

"Because any information about the battle against Berserker would too important if I were to fight against Saber in the end. They having this information would be dangerous if the alliance broke by some cause. "

Tohsaka face adopted an interested look.

"What information is that, Archer?"

"A very important one, to both allies and enemies. Believe me when I say that this information will be very useful for you when planning future battles."

"What is it?"

"It is how I defeated Berserker."

"Should I tell you about my Noble Phantasms, master?

* * *

The priest was standing in front of the altar, eyes closed.

"I've returned, master"

The servant of the lance materialized at the entrance of the church. He walked eyeing the destroyed seats and the huge hole in the wall of the stance. He chuckled.

"Happened something interesting while I was out, I see. Someone tried to kill you today, Kotomine?"

The priest opened his eyes and looked indifferently at Lancer.

"Nothing that you should know Lancer. Here only came a scared person to whom I gave a second chance"

"Huh? What are you talking about now?"

The priest smiled slightly.

"Like I said, nothing that concerns you Servant. More important is the information you got. So, tell me, what happened to mi puppil and Saber's master in the castle of the Einzberg?"

Lancer smirked at the question and answered.

"Nothing."

The expression of his master turned serious and stared at him.  
"What, Lancer?"

"Nothing, they defeated Berserker without any personal loses. And even if I tried to kill them, it would be too bothersome to do with two Servants on the same forest. So I oversaw the damage and returned to the patrol until the time to meet you"

Kotomine Kirei appeared to be really troubled by Lancer's words. He started to walk, thinking, while Lancer smiled with satisfaction at the signs of distress of his master.

After some seconds, the priest stopped and started to talk.

"Is… interesting this development, who and how managed to do such feat? Was it done with Saber's mysterious weapon, maybe?"

The Servant sat on one of the undamaged seats, amused with the guess of the priest.

"It was your student's Servant, that Red bowman with swords. He fought alone and killed Berserker…. Was it nine time? Well nine were the times I could count, at least. You see, at some point some weird barrier appeared and didn't let me see, so I abandoned the place leaving a Rune that would tell me when that thing disappeared."

Kirei seemed to analyze the word quietly. It was surprising that the Archer of the fifth War was so powerful; the first scouting of Lancer didn't say that.

"But while waiting outside, Archer exited the building and the castle exploded. Of the explosion came out a big wave of fire and lots of shrapnel. It was damn hard to use another Rune to block the heat while deflecting fucking tiny metallic shards. When the explosion and the other things vanished, Archer appeared, alive. There weren't any rest of the castle. Then I got out before Saber went for my ass."

The priest nodded at the report.

"Did you see any Noble Phantasm, then?"

"Yeah, I saw Archer's strange arrow that exploded at contact, nine strange attacks with Berserker's sword, a seven layered shield that Archer used…" He paused.

"Anything else to say, Lancer?"

"I did saw another Noble Phantasm, master."

"What one?"

"I saw… my own Gae Bolg" He finished with a mocking tone and making the lance appear at the same time.

His master didn't react to what he tough some king of humor attempt from his Servant.

"I do not need to know something as trivial as that you saw your own weapon, Lancer."  
Lancer chuckled again as he dematerialized the lance.

"What do you say, Kotomine." He said in a clearly amused tone. "Then I didn't saw more than the other ones."

"Did you saw what happened to the Einzberg master, then?"  
Lancer negated with his head.

"Nah, I don't know where that child is right now."

"I see. That was all, Lancer continue scouting then, like previous ordered"

The servant of the lance dematerialized himself as fast as he could and got out of the church, returning to the city.

He wanted to get his own fight tonight.

And with some luck someone would kill Kotomine while his servant was away.

* * *

In the middle of the night there was still someone awake in the house of Tohsaka Rin.

Sitting silently and in total stillness in the middle of his summoning circle, Archer was thinking about the course of action more appropriate to follow this War.

Protecting Rin was his priority; he had pretty much accepted that he wouldn't cause the paradox he wanted, this time, when he stayed to try to stop Berserker. His younger self was necessary, together with Saber, to protect Rin from the other servants once he died against the stone giant.

Until that battle everything was in control, he had enough knowledge of the alternatives Grail Wars to know, more or less, what were the things that, most probably, were going to happen to them afterwards.

Then he did something that never happened in any previous war. He won. He killed Berserker time after time and reduced him to ashes using the fires used to make the blades that were his own soul.

It felt great. When he realized that he killed Berserker he felt like a true hero, achieving something that seemed impossible, defeating what indefinite other instances of himself lost against. When his consciousness vanished he was sure that his work was done and his master and his younger self were going to win the War with Saber's help.

Then it happened. He didn't die.

He awakened and, even if incapable of moving, he was still alive.

That was wrong; he should have died as weak as he was. The world should have erased him. He knew that he couldn't have survived by his own means. There was only an explanation, someone else had helped him. He didn't really care about who or why.

He cared about that because it was, too, the first time that he knew of someone else in the forest.

It wasn't that he did mind changes between the different Wars; it helped him to not mix them as they seemed to near repeat themselves. Some things changed but the great scheme of the things was never altered from some principal paths, little things changed but everything was equal in the end.

But something like a Servant surviving when he shouldn't and someone else in the forest, enough near the battle zone to help him before the World killed him? It was too much, too unique and too estrange. It would have repercussions, and the repercussions would have repercussions, and those would have repercussions themselves.

Everything that he knew that was likely to happen in this iteration of the War wouldn't happen. Every knowledge he had about the possible paths that the War could take, was null in the moment that it took a never seen one.

He didn't like it, but the events were out of his hand now.

And because of that, when he said that he was going to talk about his Noble Phantasms with his master, he lied.

Well, he didn't lie that much; it was more like omission of selective information. Maybe other time he would tell her about his magic and his name. But revealing everything that night wouldn't serve to any purpose and would risk his newborn plan.

He only told her about Caladbolg, Kanshou and Bakuya, Gae Bolg, Berserker's sword and the Rho Aias, the ones he used against Berserker outside his reality marble. Obviously he didn't called them by their names when he explained their powers, Rin would notice immediately that it would be impossible for the same hero to have them, he reused the memory problems excuse and said to his master that even if he could summon the weapons and use them he still didn't remember the names. Rin seemed to not believe that very much; but in the end, after explaining to her what the Phantasms did to Berserker in detail, she was pleased enough to not ask him more questions about them.

Then she ordered him to rest and exited the basement. He obeyed, he would have done it even without orders, and stayed still to let the new magical array around him do its effects.

So the only thing he could do now was to prepare, to anticipate and to plan.

He would use the night to review his blades, one after one, and to discern the still usable ones of the ones that would need a two handed grip to wield. He needed now, more than ever, to know everything about every sword in his being.

The other steps to assure the wellbeing of his master would have to wait until tomorrow, when they went to the Emiya residence.

* * *

_Sometimes,_ Kirei thought, _technology and society hold the solutions to problems caused by magic.  
_  
After meditating about Lancer's report he reached the conclusion that Kirutsugu's son and his pupil appeared to be more problematic than expected. The destruction of the homunculus's heart would be problematic for Gilgamesh who, unaware of this change in the War, was planning to get it and to kill Berserker tomorrow with his new "master".

Kirei, for his part, has already planned how to remove them.

He took the phone of his desk and marked the noted number.

Sometimes a few seemly innocent questions to the right people and a good use of the phone book could help him more than Lancer could.

The phone was answered.

"Hello? Sorry for calling at this hour. My name is Kotomine Kirei, the priest from the catholic church of the new part of the city… Yes, the one from the church that took in all the children from that explosion years ago. I called because I need to speak privately with someone… It's a very important and delicate matter."

While waiting for a reply he eyed another time the phone book before closing it, in the page a number was marked.

"Who is he? I'm sure you know him, he is going to wed for what I heard."

The name at the side of the numbers was one well-known around the city.

Ryuudou Temple.

"Kozuki Souichirou. And please be discrete, it's about his fiancée."


End file.
